One day, after school was finished she met a boy. He was fun and quirky. Nothing like the boys she had met before. He made her smile and evoked a new kind of excitement she had never known before. She started to question the life she had laid out ahead of her. Maybe she didn't need any more education, after all she was quite grown up now and knew so very much already! As she pondered her future she became closer to this mysterious young man. He fascinated her and drew her closer with every long lingering embrace.
Things quickly gained speed and, before they knew it, their relationship had taken on a physical passion way beyond any daydream had ever left them imagining possible.
As quickly as it started, it fizzled out. As though someone had removed a lens, all the fascination turned to irritation, the excitement to frustration. And without any real explanation from either party they went their own separate ways.
It was a warm sunny day, unusual for March when Joanna lay idly in bed pondering her choices for her now free and easy future... With no commitments, no plans, the world was hers for the taking. As she flicked absent-mindedly through her diary trying to find some inspiration for the day she began to wonder whether all this freedom and independence was really all it was cracked up to be.
Over dinner that night the interrogation began again over her plans for the future. Her parents were nothing if not purposeful and saw the money they had poured into their little girls education slowly seeping away. Before long the usual suggestion of joining the RAF came up. But something changed, instead of the habitual fury that was usually unleashed at this stage in the proceeding. Joanna found herself wondering silently... why not?
And as though nothing else had ever mattered she threw herself into this new venture with all the dedication of a Mama bear protecting her young.
The day came round fast for her medical, she was to be accepted into the next intake of recruits provided she was declared medically fit to do so. There was no doubt in the minds of all concerned that she would very soon be donning her uniform and beginning her prestigious carer... What could possibly go wrong? She was fit, healthy, mentally sound... oh and just a little bit pregnant!!
That was NOT the plan...
What would her parents say? What would they do? More to the point what was SHE going to do?
The questions spun through her head, causing a vacant nausea, he limbs no longer belonged to her body and her heart was beating as though it was desperate to escape her chest and the reality of what was to come.
The next few weeks were a blur, a midwife was in there somewhere and lots of questions. Mostly shouted across the dinner table. Suggestions were made that are unspeakable. The beautiful young girl was being dragged by whirlwind into adulthood. The freedom and independence stripped away with no sign of return. Her dreams shattered around her and the reality of her future looked harsh, cold and lonely.
Deciding she needed some time alone to ponder her choices she left home and went to stay at a supported home for teenage mums. A place many more before her had run to for support and clarity. It was nothing like the life she had known. No-one to cook, clean, wash, care... and the reality of colicy, read faced snot covered infants was not doing her vision of motherhood any favours!
With the support of councillors the decision was made to give her baby away... to a family who WANTED it.
That 'it' was me.
My family most certainly DID want me. I was loved from the second they heard I was to be their own precious bundle of joy and hope. I could never have asked for more from them.
Everyone deserves a happy ever after... even me.
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